Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka

February 10, 2014

John Bartholomew led the salute to the flag.  John Gierek Jr, in a rare appearance, gave the invocation.  He asked for a moment of silence for Teresa Sims and Vern Cooney, two former Rotarians who had passed away recently.  

Sally Arnot came to the podium to introduce some members of the Art community who were our guests and also involved in the program.   

They were Roy Grieshaber, President of the Redwood Art Association, Libby Maynard of the Ink People, ceramic artist Cathy Pierson, Elizabeth Berrian, wire sculptor, Linda Wise, metal sculptor, Shawn Griggs, Ferndale gallery Owner, Kati Texas Ward member of the Ink People (and also head of the Rural Burl Mural Bureau and chair of the Kinetic Sculpture Race Board), and Michael Fields of Del Arte.  We’ll have more from them later.  

Our Russian Exchange Student Dan went to a wrestling tournament in Ukiah and came in 2^nd in his weight class. очень хорошо is what I say.  

Ziggy awarded 4 new Blue Badges to Bruce Smith, Fred Van Vleck, Nick Bertel, and Steve Lafferty.  

John McBeth also got his blue badge – returned to him because he lost it.  Along with it came a $50 fine.  




Nancy Dean announced that Jay Bahner had thrown his hat into the ring for Rotary President 2015-16.  Final vote is in two weeks.  

Mike Cunningham then came up with his last few Christmas Party photos for $25.  The lucky recipients were Hank Pierson (2), Nick Bertel, Steve Beckman, and the ubiquitous Fred Van Vleck.  

John Gierek Jr. incurred Ziggy’s wrath by not attending meetings.  John was given one of Ziggy’s prize T-shirts (worth $150).  

Greg Williston gave a slide presentation on recent foreign exchange student Franco, who had sustained a serious head injury while skiing during his time here and spent a long time in recovery.  Greg and his family visited Franco and his family in Chile.  He was happy to report that Franco is 98% recovered and had passed the University Entrance Exam.  

Fred Sundquist, another rare attendee, was spotted in the back and recognized for being Chamber of Commerce Business Man of the Year.  We can’t wait for the foldout in the next chamber of commerce newsletter.  

Ziggy then drew tickets and Mike Martin and Keith Crossley each won 10 bucks. 

Program 
Sally Arnot then led off our program talking about The Humboldt Arts Council.  Homer Balbanis, HSU art professor, secured the initial funding from the State of California in 1965.  The council occupied various vacant buildings in Old Town.  Eventually the City of Eureka sold the Carnegie building to HAC for $1.  They raised $1.1 million to remodel it, and as they say, the rest is fund raising.  HAC started Arts Alive.  

Sally introduced Roy Grieshaber of the Redwood Art Association (RAA).  The RAA is a group of over 300 talented artists who stage monthly exhibits.  They were nomadic too, until they acquired a building on 7^th and F streets in 2012. Their fundraisers include Art in the Garden, which mixes wine, flowers and plein air painters.  

Libby Maynard of the Ink People Center For the Arts came up next.  The Ink People started in 1979 when Libby and the late Brenda Tuxford decided they needed a place for their etching press.  They believe that everyone has a secret artist inside.  They have facilitated over 70 “community dream maker “projects, including the Discovery Museum and Redwood Curtain Theater.  They also run an after school program for at risk teens.  They are currently located in the Carson Block Building, but will be moving into the Jefferson Community Center.

Finally, Michael Fields of Del Arte spoke.  Del Arte or “clown school” as some call it, is expanding its summer Mad River Festival to 7 weeks.  He also represents The California State Summer School for the Arts.  This is a prestigious summer program held in Los Angeles for 60 talented students between 14 and 18 years old.  They will be accepting applications through February 28^th.  www.csss.com.

Cryptically crafted by Hank Ingham, (a member of the Ink People and Redwood Art Association)

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka

February 3, 2014

Sgt. Matt Coleman, a member of the National Guard who had recently returned from Afghanistan, led the flag salute.  Craig Hansen gave the invocation, and returning Former exchange student Jamie Carroll asked us to send letters, thoughts and prayers to Teresa Sims.

Guests

Judge Brown from Fortuna was our only visiting Rotarian.

Interact students Grace and Jordan came to the podium to tell us about an upcoming fundraiser to support a trip. 

Announcements

Greg Seiler announced that the theme for this year’s Rotary Raffle would be “Bootlegger’s Ball II - Rotarian’s Revenge”.  It will be held May 5^th at the Ingomar Club. 

Gregg Gardiner and Tom McMurray Jr. teamed up to introduce this years “Service Above Self” Award.  Larry Ratliff, vocational coordinator for Teen Challenge, received a Paul Harris Fellowship in his name.  He and his crew of 45 spent thousands of hours rehabilitating Winship Middle School’s grounds. Ratliff also does a jail ministry and works at the Rescue Mission.  Then it was time for “recognition.” 

Recognitions

Dennis Hunter was fined $100 for receiving a lifetime achievement award at the recent Eureka Chamber Dinner.  President Ziggy also had a photo of Dennis dressed in 49er Gear at the Seattle vs 49ers game. 

Murl Harpham was spotted in the audience attired in civilian clothes.  He retired two weeks ago and no longer packs a pistol.  Ziggy commended him on his 57 years on the force, and gave him an additional item of apparel, a Rotary T-shirt. 

Mike Cunningham had a box of framed photos from recent Rotary Christmas Parties. Sally Arnot, Burt Campton, John Bradley, Matt Owen and Tom Schallert retrieved their portraits -for a handling fee of $25. 

While they were picking them up Ziggy relieved Greg Williston of $50 for being Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Board. 

Finally, Tom McMurray was singled out for a planned trip to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  He said it was on the way from Oslo to Jerusalem and anyway he liked raw fish.  When Ziggy informed him that it was “Sochi” not “sushi”, Tom looked disappointed. 

Gregg Gardiner returned to the podium to distribute United States Marine Corps Commander Awards to those who had gone the extra mile in helping Toys For Tots.  They included Nancy Dean, Dennis Hunter Patrick Cleary, Paula Patton, and, weighing in at a trim 200 pounds, wearing tan slacks and an oxford shirt that brought out the blue in his eyes, the handsome Hank Ingham-but enough about me.  Wait.  I didn’t win the raffle.  OK. Now I’m done.

Program

President Ziggy introduced our speaker for the day, Sergeant Matt Coleman of the National Guard.  He shared pictures of his recent tour in Afghanistan.  For his first three months he provided security for gravel Trucks.  He escorted them over a 20 mile stretch of what is called “The Heart Of Darkness in the Kandahar province.  Then he built bridges, sometimes using the same type of pontoon floats you see loaded on the back of trucks at our local Armory.  Some projects were completed in as little as 55 hours.  The main threat was the IED. They also experienced sandstorms that turned the sky black and stopped the whole convoy.   

He was thankful that he and his unit completed their tour unscathed, but felt guilty that so many others had not been as lucky.  He said that for some, it was hard to find jobs when they came back.  He knew some who suffered from PTSD.  When there were no more questions, the meeting was adjourned. 

Submitted by the natty Hank Ingham [note: raw fish is actually sashimi, but “sushi” is funnier.]

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka

February 3, 2014

Sgt. Matt Coleman, a member of the National Guard who had recently returned from Afghanistan, led the flag salute.  Craig Hansen gave the invocation, and returning Exchange student Jamie Carroll asked us to send letters, thoughts and prayers to Teresa Sims.

Guests

Judge Brown from Fortuna was our only visiting Rotarian.

Interact students Grace and Jordan came to the podium to tell us about an upcoming fundraiser to support a trip. 

Announcements

Greg Seiler announced that the theme for this year’s Rotary Raffle would be “Bootlegger’s Ball II - Rotarian’s Revenge”.  It will be held May 5^th at the Ingomar Club. 

Gregg Gardiner and Tom McMurray Jr. teamed up to introduce this years “Service Above Self” Award.  Larry Ratliff, vocational coordinator for Teen Challenge, received a Paul Harris Fellowship in his name.  He and his crew of 45 spent thousands of hours rehabilitating Winship Middle School’s grounds. Ratliff also does a jail ministry and works at the Rescue Mission.  Then it was time for “recognition.” 

Recognitions

Dennis Hunter was fined $100 for receiving a lifetime achievement award at the recent Eureka Chamber Dinner.  President Ziggy also had a photo of Dennis dressed in 49er Gear at the Seattle vs 49ers game. 

Murl Harpham was spotted in the audience attired in civilian clothes.  He retired two weeks ago and no longer packs a pistol.  Ziggy commended him on his 57 years on the force, and gave him an additional item of apparel, a Rotary T-shirt. 

Mike Cunningham had a box of framed photos from recent Rotary Christmas Parties. Sally Arnot, Burt Campton, John Bradley, Matt Owen and Tom Schallert retrieved their portraits -for a handling fee of $25. 

While they were picking them up Ziggy relieved Greg Williston of $50 for being Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Board. 

Finally, Tom McMurray was singled out for a planned trip to the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  He said it was on the way from Oslo to Jerusalem and anyway he liked raw fish.  When Ziggy informed him that it was “Sochi” not “sushi”, Tom looked disappointed. 

Gregg Gardiner returned to the podium to distribute United States Marine Corps Commander Awards to those who had gone the extra mile in helping Toys For Tots.  They included Nancy Dean, Dennis Hunter Patrick Cleary, Paula Patton, and, weighing in at a trim 200 pounds, wearing tan slacks and an oxford shirt that brought out the blue in his eyes, the handsome Hank Ingham-but enough about me.  Wait.  I didn’t win the raffle.  OK. Now I’m done.

Program

President Ziggy introduced our speaker for the day, Sergeant Matt Coleman of the National Guard.  He shared pictures of his recent tour in Afghanistan.  For his first three months he provided security for gravel Trucks.  He escorted them over a 20 mile stretch of what is called “The Heart Of Darkness in the Kandahar province.  Then he built bridges, sometimes using the same type of pontoon floats you see loaded on the back of trucks at our local Armory.  Some projects were completed in as little as 55 hours.  The main threat was the IED. They also experienced sandstorms that turned the sky black and stopped the whole convoy.    He was thankful that he and his unit completed their tour unscathed, but felt guilty that so many others had not been as lucky.  He said that for some, it was hard to find jobs when they came back.  He knew some who suffered from PTSD.   

When there were no more questions, the meeting was adjourned. 

Submitted by the natty Hank Ingham [note: raw fish is actually sashimi, but “sushi” is funnier.]

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka

January 27, 2014

Gregg Gardiner led the flag salute and Carlton Nielsen gave the invocation reading a prayer for enlightenment and peace.

Visiting Rotarians

Liana Simpson from Old Town Rotary.

Guests of Rotarians

John Driscoll was the guest of Gregg Gardiner.

Student guests

Our exchange student told us that he just got back from Los Angeles where he went to Disneyland and Universal Studios among other things, then to Santa Barbara where he hopes to go to college.

Birthdays

Corky Cornwell 1/29

Chris Freeman 1/25

Glenn Goldan 1/27

David Hull 1/25

Anniversaries

Dennis and Karen Hunter 1/28

Announcements

John Driscoll, district representative for Congressman Jared Huffman, has long worked on the Honor Flights for our area. He presented a flag to our club that was flown over the nation’s Capitol on Nov. 11th (Veterans Day) 2013.

The club welcomed new member, Dr. Kitty Poterack, who is the Manager of the Open Door Clinic practicing pediatric medicine mostly for underprivileged children. She got a hug from President Ziggy and a few words of encouragement from Dr. Kim Bauriedel, who was delighted to welcome our fourth physician into the club (when Kim joined we had 13 doctors). He urged her to get active, stay in attendance, practice the four-way test and visit other clubs when possible.

Mike Cunningham said we might try to find a less expensive venue for next year’s Christmas party. Nevertheless he enjoyed the Ingomar and then (finally) handed out some nicely framed pictures purchased by many who attended—for only $25, or so.

Raffle

Winners were Hank Ingham and Mindy Bussman

Program

Jennifer Fairbanks of the Humboldt County Office of Education spoke to us concerning her work with teens who need some help to finish high school and continue on to productive lives. Originally Jennifer came from San Diego after graduating from San Diego State as a psychology major. She worked in juvenile hall and later went to HSU and got her teaching credential. She has been the principal for the Court and Community Schools for twelve years.

Court schools are locked schools either in Juvenile Hall or Regional Facility.

Juvenile Hall has 15-25 students, a General Ed teacher, special Ed teacher and instructional aide. Lately the population at Juvenile Hall has been down. Why? There are currently fewer young people placed into Juvenile Hall than decades ago, mainly because the results of prematurely incarcerating a teen can be push them further into a life of crime. Humboldt’s Regional Facility instructs from 8-18 students, employing a General Ed teacher, Special Ed teacher instructional aide, mental health worker and providing family counseling. Jennifer mentioned and showed pictures of the Community Schools working closely with Eric Hollenbeck and Blue Ox.

How do students get placed in a Community School? School Attendance Review Boards (SARB), expulsion, homelessness, district referral for behavior, or parental requests, can all land a student in a Community School

Jennifer mentioned that the schools employ a Novel based curriculum that emphasizes character development, vocabulary development and writing development. Then, she mentioned the ABC’s of: Attendance, Behavior and Credits that seems to guide much of the daily activities of her school. Students must attend, behave and be caught up on credits in order to return to the comprehensive school district.  She mentioned the Truancy Intervention program uses positive reinforcement or incentives to encourage good attendance. Some students even get to earn computers through good attendance. She showed pictures of some of the homes where her students live, illustrating that Truancy Outreach finds kids in some pretty sorry places (And she said she had spared us from viewing places that looked even worse!).

Kuder Navigator helps teens find out what they are good at with regard to career paths; it provides resume support and gives students a place to keep all of their resume information, letters of reference and community service experiences.

The California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) has to be passed by every student to graduate. According to Jennifer our rates of CAHSEE passage are not too bad when compared to similar sized counties alternative education programs.

Community Service is a part of her school’s program, as is an occasional surfing trip. She was amazed that many of them live in places like Rio Dell and haven’t ever been to the beach.

Jennifer said that many of the kids are from poor families who do not emphasize education, but some are “gifted non-conformists,” i.e., teens who are bright but simply will not cooperate.

Craig Hanson, speaking for many of us, thanked Jennifer for her professional program and presentation.

Next week’s speaker will be Sergeant Matt Coleman of the National Guard.

Respectfully submitted,

Dan Price

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka

January 13, 2014

Steve Justus led the flag salute and Dan Heinen gave the invocation. 

Visiting Rotarians 
Cindy Denbo of Southwest Club.

Guests of Rotarians 
Steven Wright was the guest of Steve Justus and Tom Strickland from Boy Scouts of America was the guest of Kim Bauriedel.






Birthdays 
Bob Morse 1/8
Neal Carnam 1/10
Corky Cornwell 1/29
Chris Freeman 1/25
Glenn Goldan 1/27
David Hull 1/25

Anniversaries 
Bruce and Marilyn Rupp 1/15
Warren and Lisa Hockaday 1/18
Dennis and Karen Hunter 1/28

Announcements 
Pat Folkins introduced Jim Hunter as our newest Paul Harris member. Pat gave a bit of background on the Paul Harris Fellowship to the club before giving the certificate and pin to Jim. The club stood for Mr. Hunter.

Lisa Slack said the Clarke Museum is doing its 3^rd Murder Mystery Roundup next Saturday 1/25. Tickets are $50. Contact Lisa, web page is clarkehistorical@att.net or call  443-1947.

Pat Folkins got fined $50 for wearing a 49ers tie, but suggested that our President get fined for not knowing certain arcane details about the Raiders; the president turned the table on him for not knowing where the Raiders first played.

Nick Bertell stood looking clean cut and green-tied, but was nevertheless fined $50 for being a Mason or something like that.

Ziggy and all agreed that Mike Cunningham did a fine job organizing the Christmas party, but pictures are still missing. Mike passed the buck to Carlton Nielsen and Carlton to others whose names won’t be mentioned. The pictures are still missing. No fine—yet.

Steve Lafferty keeps attendance records for our club and was recognized because he and Greg Gardiner are the only two members to have 100% attendance last year.  Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, President Ziggy fined them both $100 (to Paul Harris) for exemplary attendance.

Continuing on the theme of punishments meted out for good behavior, the bearded wanderer, Mr. Hank Pierson, was recognized for being here two weeks in a row. He claims to have lost his badge, but should not expect credit for 100% attendance because the president is wise to such ploys.

Ziggy chided Jason Eads for moving into his neighborhood, saying, “There goes my neighborhood, with all these lawyers for neighbors.”

John Bradley said Backpacks for kids served 114 kids every week at Alice Burney, Lafayette and Grant schools with some help from other service clubs. April is a big event to raise money for Backpacks for Kids and John will give more details soon. John was happy to put in $50 for his announcement.

Nancy Dean and Alicia Cox were the raffle winners.

Program 
Dave Parris introduced our guest speaker, prefacing his introduction with mention that this week is historic because of someone who will retire after 50 years of service: Murl Harpham. The club rose to its feet in recognition of Murl’s outstanding service with Eureka Police Department.

Robert Losacco is a Community Resource person for California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). He is in charge of volunteers, chaplains and donations at Pelican Bay (PB).  PB State Prison is California’s only level four maximum-security prison, so they get the worst inmates. To give us a clue about just how bad the PB prisoners are, he highlighted the fact that these prisoners have to “earn their right to get to Pelican Bay,” by acting like knuckle-heads after their incarceration. No one is sentenced directly to PB.

CDCR facts: CDCR runs 34 state prisons, 41 fire camps and 16 community correctional facilities. It employs 24,000 peace officers, 1,500 state parole agents and 700 criminal investigator / special agents. It has a staggering $8.9 billion dollar budget and incarcerates over 134,000 inmates. The cost of each inmate is over $48,000 dollars per year. Higher security inmates cost about $72,000 dollars per year, and those inmates with medical needs can cost us $102,000 dollars per year.

CDCR is going to hire 7,000 new officers in the near future. Pelican Bay currently needs 135 correctional officers to fill their openings. Pay and benefits are good, says Robert, affirming, “Once you get in, it’s hard to get out.” California CDCR employees are among the highest paid law enforcement salaries in the U.S. and it is not unusual for overtime pay to exceed one’s base salary. With CAL/PERS Retirement a CDCR employee can retire at age 55. At 27 years your retirement pay is over 100% of your working salary.  Other incentive pay options are available from taking college units to passing a Physical Fitness test all cost taxpayers extra money.

He made the claim that 84% of what they do in the prisons is due to some sort of litigation; I think he meant litigation other than the trial of the prisoners--things like ACLU lawsuits.

For those interested in a captivating second career go to www.joinCDC.com.

Respectfully submitted,
Dan Price

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka

January 6, 2014

Carlton Nielsen led the pledge, once Ziggy got the microphone to work. 

Dan Heinen did the invocation, calling to mind the recent tragedy at St. Bernards and asking for prayer. 

Ziggy reported that this was the half-way point of his term.  That announcement was followed by an emotional outpouring of screaming and catcalls from his ardent fans- or maybe not. 

Carol Rische announced the deadline for submitting applications to Rotary’s small grants committee, January 30^th. 

Kim Bauriedel gave us a report on exchange student Daniel.  His mother flew in from Vladyvostok and boy, are her arms tired.  He’s visiting her in LA.  Sam recently won a wrestling trophy.  His arms are tired too. 

Ziggy got a call from Mike Moreland in Arizona.  He’s doing well and wishes us all the best. 

Now it was Time for Recognition.  Burt Campton is currently unemployed, having sold his business to Consolidated Electric. $50. 

Bruce Rupp went to England to visit his daughter and new granddaughter.  $50. 

Sally Arnot purchased a second home in Palm Desert.  $50. 

Christian Hill was lauded for having reached 1.2 million of St. Joseph’s goal of 2 million for new cancer equipment. $50. 

John Winzler was commended for having kept breathing for the whole year.  $50. 

Bob Palmrose was at Costco recently and completely snubbed Ziggy.  It cost him $50 even though he’s a visiting Rotarian. 

Jim Howard was recognized for continuing to violate the Brown Act, starting way back when the city councilmen used to meet in his shoeshine parlor. 

Finally, Keith Crossley broke the streak of $50 fines, awarded a t-shirt for his recent picture in the newspaper. 

Kathy Smith and John Bradley won the Humboldt County Science Fair Spengler raffle.  

Angie presenting a video on Humboldt Grass Fed Beef.

Program 

Matthew Owen introduced Angie Schwab and Don Banducci, who represent “Humboldt Made.”  It’s a non-profit tasked with promoting the artisanal wares of Humboldt County businesses.  They used a Headwaters Fund grant to produce videos highlighting local producers, including Pacific Outfitters, Sun Valley Bulb Farm, Mad River Brewery, Dick Taylor Chocolates, Wallace and Hines, Eel River Organic Beef, and Moonstone Crossing Wines. 

Angie Schwab & Don Banducci

They also funded a trip to Humboldt by Whole Foods which resulted in $250,000 worth of orders. The videos were created by Don, Angie, and Malcolm DeSoto and are up on U-Tube. They would like us to disseminate the videos through the social media. They would also like us to be members.  A business membership in Humboldt Made is $250.  A Community Supporter membership is $100. 

At the end Ziggy touted his record of getting the meetings over at or before 1:30pm.  He has indeed done a great job.  As a tribute I have made this Burl as short as is possible. 

Quickly scrawled by Hank Ingham

Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka

December 16, 2013

Lunch Menu:  Salad bar, chicken, beef, rice pilaf, assorted vegetables, rolls, dessert

Called to order by President Ziggy at 12:30pm.

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Walt Shimasaki.

The Invocation was led by: Greg Williston.

Guests of Rotarians

Greg Gardiner introduced Charles Young of Eureka High School, a Paul Harris Fellow.  Charles proudly showed the club his Rotary pin.

Arnold Klein introduced his guest, Dr. Kitty Poterak, and her daughter who was in town for the holidays.

Dave Dillon introduced his wife, Carol.   

Ted Loring introduced Ely Savage, our outbound student and his son, David Loring, formerly an outbound to Germany (also a former member of Limited Edition)

Birthdays

Jay Bahner, Richard Borough, Greg Bowen, Mike Leggins, Virginia Bass, Chuck Ellsworth, Russ Harris, Walt Shimasaki, Hank Ingham, Wendy Purnell, Anybody not sitting at the head table was fined $5.

Anniversaries

John Bradley, Doug Lanning, Dan Heinen, Smith, Bruce Smith, Dale Stockly, Wayne Wilson.

Announcements

Logger Classic- President Ziggy thanked the Rotarians that came to the table and donated a total of $2,000 to make the Logger Classic happen this year.

Toys for Tots- Greg Gardiner said that normally at this time he’s panicked at this time of the year about whether or not they’re going to have enough toys but not this year.  The community has responded big time.  Even with the addition of Mendocino this year, they’re still doing well.  10,000 toys so far.  Blue Lake Casino has been a big contributor contributing 800 toys, 6 or 7,000 gift cards plus a check for $52,000.

Recognitions

John Burger was fined $50 for going to Santa Rosa for a knee replacement surgery. 

Wayne Wilson was fined $60 for his 59^th anniversary.

Rotary will be dark for the next two weeks. Our next meeting will be on January 6^th.

Raffle

$10 to: Dr. Joan Davies-Harper       $10 to: Arnold Klein

Guest  Speaker

Eureka High School’s Limited Edition entertained us with a beautiful performance.

Meeting adjourned at 1:15pm.

Respectfully submitted, 

Alicia Cox